A Pact Meant to Be Broken
by lowi
Summary: Written for the Family and Friendship Forever! Competition at the HPFC forum. The three Potter children, trying to stick together as a family.


_A/N: Written for the __Family and Friendship Forever! Competition__ at the __HPFC__ forum. Thanks to mew-tsubaki for betareading!_

**Characters: James Sirius Potter, Albus Severus Potter, and Lily Luna Potter**

**Prompts: formidable, sincerity, opulent**

**A Pact Meant to Be Broken**

They were the Potter children and when James was eight years old, his brother two years younger and his sister another two, they vowed to always stick together, no matter how many dragons they had to fight and Dark Lords they had to defeat, by signing a contract they wrote together.

Then, a year later, Lily was five years old and forgotten when they played hide-and-seek. She had found the most formidable hiding place – in Mum's old Hogwarts trunk in the attic. So there she lay, sniffing at Mum's worn-out robes, fingering some quills, and flipping through a textbook with a blonde, smiling wizard on its cover. Eventually she fell asleep, unaware that her two older brothers weren't searching for her anymore.

When James had found Albus under the stairs – his usual hiding place since by sitting there he could watch the pictures on the wall in front of him and thus make the time pass faster – they had searched together for their little sister but not managed to find her. And then James had shoved Albus into the wall - not on purpose, of course - which had given Albus no choice but to punch his brother in the face. At last, when their fight ended and they refreshed themselves with two big glasses of milk, Lily had been completely forgotten. It was when dinner first arrived, half an hour later, and when Mum asked them absentmindedly to go fetch their sister, that they shared a look of utter horror. They ran out of the kitchen and resumed their search party.

It took them ten panicking minutes before they stood in front of the trunk and a fuming Lily, who now had come to the conclusion that her brothers had _left_ her. It was the very first time the vow had been broken, because Lily didn't speak to Albus and James for two entire weeks. But at last she forgave them, their opulent excuses and promises of making her chocolate chip cookies finally winning her over.

They renewed the contract, adding a part which said, "Don't stop looking when you're playing hide-and-seek," and managed to hold it for two years.

Then, James was eleven and disgraced by his siblings. They were at King's Cross Station, his parents bidding him goodbye, kissing him and ruffling his hair, showering him with words of how he shouldn't be nervous, how much they loved him, assuring themselves he hadn't forgotten something – and if he had, they would send it to him, but James didn't heard a word of it.

He was occupied checking out all the people on the platform — he hadn't yet discovered his cousin Louis, and he wanted to know who might be more of their fellow first years. And, suddenly, a boy came over and asked him if he was too going to begin his first year at Hogwarts too, and James was just about to answer when Lily and Albus came up to him, both red in the face and excited after having chased each other for a good ten minutes but determined to declare their goodbyes and really say something _meaningful_ to their older brother. Of course the other boy would hear it perfectly, their "We will miss you, James, now we can't play 'Super Villains versus Heroes' anymore because you need three of us in it!" and of course the boy would raise an eyebrow and ask with a smirk, "You still play games?" before leaving James.

Therefore, James gave his siblings an ice-cold look and boarded the train without answering, without waving goodbye, and without even casting a glance in their direction.

So, this was the second time their vow was broken, since James didn't answer any of Lily's or Albus' numerous letters filled with sincerity and apologies. It was when their mum and dad first thought James had gone too far in his ignoring of his two younger siblings – who were quite sad and worried over this – by responding to _their_ letters about Albus' and Lily's escapades with "Who are you talking about, Dad? I don't know this 'Albus'" and coming up with an ultimatum: respond to their letters or stay at Hogwarts this Christmas.

James quickly scribbled out two long letters as if nothing had happened, and was allowed to come home for Christmas.

They once again remade their vow, this time adding, "Don't tell anyone about our games," and this time they held it for six years. Six years with no silence between them, and no fights lasting longer than a day.

Then Albus was fifteen and got two of his best friends stolen by his siblings. He didn't know what to do, he felt so lonely –sure, he had Rose, but he had never been all that close to her. So when Clara was busy snogging James practically everywhere – it was _very, _repulsive, actually – and Scorpius and Lily began holding hands one day, arguing the next, both easily the biggest drama queen he knew, Albus completely ignored all four of them. They all tried to cheer him up, since he walked around miserably most of the time – constantly pouting – but he didn't respond to their _oh-so-funny_ jokes, only answering them with a glare.

Somehow he knew it was wrong of him to be this jealous, but he really couldn't help it. Clara and Scorpius had been his friends first and now his siblings had taken them from him. He guessed he should have been happy for their sake, but he simply couldn't – and pretending wasn't an option, as they would have seen through him at once. So, easy way out, he tried persuading himself that they didn't exist and instead joined Rosie's endless hours in the library. At least he succeeded very well in his O.W.L.s.

But then the summer came and Scorpius ditched Lily – who didn't care at all — and Clara and James simply ended their relationship since none of them thought it would be possible to uphold it now that James had graduated. And Albus found himself forgiving all four of them at once, not even thinking about holding his grudge any longer now that all was back to normal.

The three siblings decided that now when James was going to travel the world, it was more important than ever to stick together and keep in touch, so once more they rewrote the contract and added, "Don't even look at anyone's friends."

They had broken their vow three times but always returned to each other, and even though none of them thought that was thanks to the contract, none of the Potter children would dare mentioning its uselessness, because it had played a part in its own way, and their relationship was stronger for it.


End file.
